Ebola Kills First European Victim: Spanish Priest Dies In Madrid

Spanish priest, Miguel Pajares, who was the first Spaniard and European to contract deadly Ebola virus in Liberia, died early on Tuesday. Pajares was transported in a specially-adapted plane back to a hospital in Madrid where he was allegedly treated with experimental drug, ZMapp, which is also being used in the United States. He passed away after being hospitalized for five days. Sources of the medical staff have commented on his “critical condition and loss of vital signs” the last few days. Sadly there is no vaccine for the virus and cures have yet to prove they work.

The priest belonged to the San Juan de Dios hospital order, which is a Catholic humanitarian group based in Spain. And he was working to treat patients with Ebola in Liberia, which of course explains his contraction of the deadly virus. Before Pajares was to be flown back to his home country, he commented on the horrible experience he’d had during his endeavors and said: 'We are abandoned. We want to go to Spain and be treated like people.'

While there has been controversy about unproven drugs and vaccines being used on patients, the World Health Organization released a statement it was in fact ethical to do so. The other issue raising protests in West Africa is who will have access to the drug and how they plan on distributing it fairly. For the meantime, the San Diego-based company that produces ZMapp has said their supply is ‘completely exhausted.’